Aftermath
by TheAngryTaco
Summary: The Judge struggles to cope after his brother's demise. (Spoilers for Zone 2 on.)


Aftermath  
By TheAngryTaco

A/N: This story starts off with the boss battle in Zone 2 and proceeds from there. Obviously, this contains heavy spoilers for the game post-Zone 2. If you want to make sure nothing gets spoiled for you, exit out of here now.

Disclaimer: I don't own OFF - that belongs to the wonderful Mortis Ghost.

I hope you enjoy.

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The Judge sat mutely in the corner, watching in horror as this...this _thing_ in front of him transformed his beloved brother into a limp bag of flesh. The guardian, Japhet was his name, seemed not to care that he was now wearing Valerie for a hat. In fact, he seemed almost _proud_ of the mockery. He couldn't find a single word to say as he watched the firebird battle his comrade, the Batter. The feline didn't think that the Batter cared as much as he did about the bird's vicious act against Valerie, but he couldn't fault him for that either.

A loud screech and a splatter of blood caught his attention. Japhet now lay on the roof, feathers and blood spread all over. The once mighty avian coughed, then fixed his fading eyes on the Batter. "So I've been slain," he commented. "You can be proud to have accomplished your mission, Batter."

"Valerie..." The Judge said weakly, his whole body going numb.

"You've been defeated, Japhet, guardian of Zone 2. This land is finally pure."

The Judge was only vaguely aware of the world around him turning white as he watched Japhet and the Batter fade into nothingness. A blink later, he realized that he had been transported away from the site of the battle. He forced himself to his paws and went back through the entrance point of Zone 2. As he reentered the Zone, he paused in shock as his eyes adjusted to the blindingly bright state of the area.

He made himself walk through the empty Zone, heading back to the library. His ears swiveled as he thought he detected quiet whispering, though he quickly decided that he must be hearing things out of grief. He wound his way up the stairs and through the halls, climbing higher and higher until he found himself on the roof once more. He crept over to the spot where Japhet had been slain, now white and pure as the finest sugar. "Oh, Valerie," he meowed miserably. "Why did you indulge in such asinine delusions? Why did you feel it was necessary to ingest such an abhorrent parasite?"

The feline crouched down, touching his nose to the roof and trying to quell his anguish. There wasn't even a scent left from the fallen feline and avian pair. The Judge shut his eyes, desperately searching for something, anything that said that his brother had been here. "What is this absurdity that does not allow for even the most superficial traces of a fallen friend's identity to remain after death?" he whispered, horror and grief twisting his heart even further.

His head lifted toward the heavens. No longer able to contain himself, he let out a pitiful wail. It got no response from the empty Zone, so he turned and began to walk toward the ladder. Then he veered sharply away and walked toward the opposite edge. Then he turned again, and again, and again...

The Judge lost track of how much time he spent pacing on that roof. It could have been only an hour, or it could have been days, he was not sure. He continued to meow out his loss, sometimes mistaking the echo of his meows for another living being. But there was no one else, not really. The loneliness seeped into his brain and made him think back to when he and Valerie were but little kittens. The memories overlapped with the reality before him, allowing him temporarily forget his brother's demise and cease his cries. Then he would remember, and the pitiful wailing would fill the Zone again.

Then someone did come. The Batter, looking ragged but fierce after recent combat, climbed the ladder to join him. Cat and human stared at each other for a moment. "What are you doing?" the Batter finally asked.

"I am meowing at my lung's fullest," the Judge replied, his hoarse voice catching slightly. "I would even argue that the echo that reverberates back to me is the voice of someone I know..." A memory resurfaced of him and his brother playing with some odd string. His heart lifted, and he looked hopefully at the human. "Have you seen my dear brother?"

The Batter just stood there, a cold expression on his face. The Judge then remembered. He meowed as loud as he could as the Batter turned and walked away, leaving him to his sorrow. The cat watched him go, dread piercing his woe and settling in his heart as realization struck him. "That man and his puppeteer are the ones who brought about this dismal state," he whispered. "And I gave them aid. How could I have been so heedless?"

He sent up another cry, this one of anger at himself as he finally understood the Batter's true nature. His claws unsheathed as he began to descend, determined to locate his enemy and stop him from hurting anyone else. To his surprise, someone else was walking toward him when he left the building. "Zacharie?" the cat inquired, looking up at his old friend. "I did not expect to see another living soul in this wretched place, much less one so amicable. What brings you here?"

The merchant chuckled, though the Judge noted that it was considerably pained. "I was searching for you, Pablo," he replied. "I believe we have a problem."

The Judge's tail twitched irritably. "Oh? And what ludicrous evidence has brought you to that conclusion?" he remarked drily.

Zacharie shrugged. "It's just a hunch," he replied. "This area is looking quite a bit brighter than usual. Oh, I do have one bit of evidence back in Zone 0 I think you should take a look at. There's that too."

The feline glared at the merchant. Before he could respond, his ears swiveled sharply. He jumped out of the way as a solitary Secretary sent a beam of light at him. "It appears that we have company," he hissed.

Zacharie grinned. "It has been a while since I got my hands dirty," he said. "This will be fun."

In less than a minute, the pair had dispatched the Secretary and made their way back to the Nothingness. The Judge followed Zacharie into the little room at the base of his home, then down the stairs, where he stopped dead in his tracks. His stomach turned horribly as he took in the scene.

"Sugar?" he asked quietly.

Zacharie nodded, no longer putting forth a happy facade. "The Batter returned here and found her," he said sadly. "She put up quite the fight...but she wasn't strong enough, and he killed her in the end."

The Judge rubbed his head against his friend's leg. "My condolences, dear Zacharie," he murmured.

The merchant sat down next to him and pulled the Judge into his lap. Zacharie buried his face in the Judge's fur, his whole body shaking as tears began to spill out from behind his mask. He whispered the girl's name several times as hard sobs wracked his body. The Judge nuzzled the man in sympathy, hoping he was offering some small measure of comfort. Another memory of Valerie resurfaced as he did so, making the cat pause as feelings of love and hope refilled his heart. Then the memory faded, and the cat's anguished wails began to fill the room. Zacharie's grip on the Judge tightened, and the two completely surrendered to their grief.

After a while, Zacharie stood back up, trying to pull himself back together. "I'm afraid I must run," he said. "Our friend will be approaching his final battles soon, so I must go to my post and offer him a last chance to buy things."

The Judge fixed his eyes on Zacharie. "Then it is time for me to depart as well," he replied. "I have a feeling I know where he is bound, and so I must attempt to head him off."

The human bent down and scratched the Judge between his ears. "Should it come down to that, you may want to see if you can persuade the Player to jump to your side," he suggested. "I don't think you'll stand a chance otherwise."

"The puppeteer?" the Judge asked. "Do you think that they are so easily persuaded?"

Zacharie cast a glance back at Sugar's body. "I think they are," he said grimly. "Shall we?"

The cat nodded. "Let us proceed."

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